Genea-Musings blogger
Randy Seaver has posted
a response to a letter to the editor printed in the July/August
Family Tree Magazine.
The letter-writer thought that we at Family Tree Magazine, as well as other genealogy organizations, got overly giddy about the 1940 census. He thought that the
time spent browsing for an ancestor's listing in the then-unindexed
1940 census yields little to no new genealogical information (now,
though, 24
states are searchable by name).

Personally, I've found the census useful. In some cases, I just
confirmed what I knew; in others, I found evidence to support educated guesses. And as Randy points out, until you check a record, you
don't know whether it'll hold a surprise. I was looking for someone
else entirely when I
found my grandfather staying at the YMCA in Cincinnati. When
the Ohio name index comes out, you can bet I'll be searching for my
grandma, who met my grandfather here soon after 1940.

A Family Tree Magazine Facebook
fan says she's using the 1940 census to help in her search for living
relatives. Another Facebook fan gets a kick out of finding his family members'
names, whether he learns anything new or not. So do I! What about
you?